Don’t talk to the cops!

  • Thread starter Thread starter JimG
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
J

JimG

Guest
I was going to post this link in another thread, but it would have been way off topic. The point is, many people think that talking to the police can’t hurt you if you are innocent. This fast talking lawyer vehemently disagrees. Whatever you say can and WILL be held against you in a court of law! If you have 27 minutes to kill, he gives good advice.
 
Isn’t this already a known fact?
If you’re arrested , they HAVE to tell you you have the right to remain silent.
 
’ I will never talk to any police officer under any circumstances.’ Now that is the last sentence I listened to. So I hope he never needs directions. I hope he never needs to get himself or a loved one to a hospital quickly. I hope he never needs the protection of a police officer. etc , etc get the message? By the way a police officer helped my cousin give birth to her daughter in the back of the police car God bless and protect all who are out there protecting us.
 
“Under any circumstances,” may have been hyperbole. He does, after all, introduce the police officer who speaks after him, (and who seems to agree with his recommendations.)
 
I haven’t watched the video yet, but I know that prosecutors encourage you to talk, not necessarily about the accusation in itself, in the hope that you will let slip some information which you think is insignificant but which they can use against you in court. They have it on tape and you can’t take it back.

This is illustrated in the documentary The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz. Swartz’s girlfriend was interrogated at length, and talked about something Swartz had written many years prior. Writing it wasn’t a crime, but, if I remember correctly, it helped the prosecutor to prove intent.

The moral of the story is to keep your mouth shut because you cannot know how a smart prosecutor can use anything you say.
 
Last edited:
Never talk to the police and help keep crime unsolved. Just don’t blame the police if a crime committed against you is unsolved and no one is brought to justice.
 
The lawyer giving the talk is a proponent of seeing that crimes get solved and criminals punished. He just doesn’t like to see innocent people convicted or anyone deprived of due process. If a detective asks you to come down to the station for an interview, his advice is
a) “No thanks, I’d rather not.” or
b) “Only if my lawyer is present.” or
c) “I’d like to assert my right to remain silent.”

And even if a person is guilty and wants to confess, it’s better to do it with a lawyer present.
 
Last edited:
The same people who say don’t help the police are probably the same ones who blame the police for high crime rates.
 
He didn’t say don’t help the police. He says don’t allow yourself to be interrogated by the police without a lawyer. Many clients who ignore this advice end up in prison. And yes, innocent people do end up in prison.
 
Last edited:
We all have to choose who to trust. Give me the police over criminal attorneys any day, but then I am not a criminal who needs a good deal cut.
 
A police interrogator may be entirely trustworthy, as may a criminal defense attorney. But the interrogator’s job is to get a confession, and the defense attorney’s job is to protect the defendant’s rights. Those who rely on the interrogator to protect their rights may end up with a lot of time to think about whether their trust was misplaced. Those who are innocent and in prison may have second thoughts about justice and about trust. There have been books written about innocent people who went to prison for child abuse which never happened, and who went to prison for murders they did not commit.
 
It is always a real police officer who takes someone into the interview room for interrogation. Usually a detective, but could be any rank. The police officer who gave the talk following the lawyer had extensive experience doing such interrogations. It is always a mismatch. The one asking the questions has all the power.
 
This is a switcheroo from the original proposition that the criminal lawyer was making. Not consenting to an interrogation in an interview room is a vastly different animal than not ever talking to any police.
 
I used the title of the video for the title of the thread. But it is obvious from the start that the lawyer is talking about police interrogation, as is the police officer.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top